1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring module of a multi-card connector, more particularly to a monitoring module capable of concurrently detecting a circuit connection, a memory card installation and a write-protect function by monitoring the electric connection between a common terminal and a contact terminal when a memory card is plugged into a electrically insulative housing.
2. Description of Related Art
As the flash memory was introduced to the market, its charming features including the powerful computational capability, high speed, high expandability and high storage density gradually replace the electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM) or the battery-driven memory in most portable devices. At the present, the semiconductor technology advances rapidly, the storage density and transmission speed of the flash memory grow drastically. Therefore, flash memories have replaced traditional storage media such as hard disk drives in many applications. With the foregoing functions and features of the flash memory, related manufacturers adopt flash memories to develop various kinds of memory cards, such as the typical personal computer memory card international association (PCMCIA) memory card, and the present common memory cards also include the specifications of a multimedia card (MMC), a compact flash card (CF), a smart media card (SMC), a memory stick (MS), a secure digital memory card (SD), and an xD-Picture card. These types of memory cards become very popular and extensively acceptable by consumers since their introduction to the market. Now, flash memories have become an indispensable tool, and the demand for card connectors is getting higher accordingly.
In addition, a traditional positioning structure for a memory card and a card connector fixes the connector onto a circuit board and then inserts the memory card into the card connector as to achieve the effect of electrically connecting the memory card with the card connector. However, if the memory card is not inserted all the way to the fixing point of the connector or gets loosened due to an improper contact or a collision by an external force, it will easily lead to a misjudgment on determining whether or not the memory card is electrically connected to the connector. Therefore, the signals cannot be transmitted successfully due to a poor contact or a disconnection, and the reading data may be lost. Furthermore, some electronic cards come with a write/read switch that facilitates users to switch to write protect the data stored in a memory card or prevent users from modifying the data in a memory card. Thus, some related manufacturers developed various kinds of card connectors having the functions of detecting a circuit connection, a memory card installation and a write-protect function. These card connectors generally includes a plurality of detecting terminal sets installed in a card connector for detecting the foregoing functions, and each detecting terminal set comes with two corresponding terminals to constitute an electric connection, and thus the design of the card connector requires a certain space therein, and the overall size of the card connector cannot be reduced effectively. For the manufacture of the detecting terminal sets, it requires at least two molds, and thus increasing the manufacturing cost of the card connector. Furthermore, since the science and technology grows rapidly, the design of related electronic products tends to have a light, thin, short and compact appearance, and the size of the card connector must be taken into serious consideration. Therefore, it is a very important issue for a card connector designer to reduce the space occupied within the card connector as to reduce the overall size of the connector.